[python] Does Python have a package/module management system?

Does Python have a package/module management system, similar to how Ruby has rubygems where you can do gem install packagename?

On Installing Python Modules, I only see references to python setup.py install, but that requires you to find the package first.

There are at least two, easy_install and its successor pip.

Since no one has mentioned pipenv here, I would like to describe my views why everyone should use it for managing python packages.

As @ColonelPanic mentioned there are several issues with the Python Package Index and with pip and virtualenv also.

Pipenv solves most of the issues with pip and provides additional features also.

Pipenv features

Pipenv is intended to replace pip and virtualenv, which means pipenv will automatically create a separate virtual environment for every project thus avoiding conflicts between different python versions/package versions for different projects.

• Enables truly deterministic builds, while easily specifying only what you want.
• Generates and checks file hashes for locked dependencies.
• Automatically install required Pythons, if pyenv is available.
• Automatically finds your project home, recursively, by looking for a Pipfile.
• Automatically generates a Pipfile, if one doesn’t exist.
• Automatically creates a virtualenv in a standard location.
• Automatically adds/removes packages to a Pipfile when they are un/installed.
• Automatically loads .env files, if they exist.

If you have worked on python projects before, you would realize these features make managing packages way easier.

Other Commands

• check checks for security vulnerabilities and asserts that PEP 508 requirements are being met by the current environment. (which I think is a great feature especially after this - Malicious packages on PyPi)
• graph will show you a dependency graph, of your installed dependencies.

You can read more about it here - Pipenv.

Installation

You can find the installation documentation here

P.S.: If you liked working with the Python Package requests , you would be pleased to know that pipenv is by the same developer Kenneth Reitz

As of at least late 2014, Continuum Analytics' Anaconda Python distribution with the conda package manager should be considered. It solves most of the serious issues people run into with Python in general (managing different Python versions, updating Python versions, package management, virtual environments, Windows/Mac compatibility) in one cohesive download.

It enables you to do pretty much everything you could want to with Python without having to change the system at all. My next preferred solution is pip + virtualenv, but you either have to install virtualenv into your system Python (and your system Python may not be the version you want), or build from source. Anaconda makes this whole process the click of a button, as well as adding a bunch of other features.

And just to provide a contrast, there's also pip.

It's called setuptools. You run it with the "easy_install" command.

You can find the directory at http://pypi.python.org/

In 2019 poetry is the package and dependency manager you are looking for.

https://github.com/sdispater/poetry#why

It's modern, simple and reliable.

That'd be easy_install.

On Windows install http://chocolatey.org/ then

choco install python

Open a new cmd-window with the updated PATH. Next, do

choco install pip

After that you can

pip install pyside
pip install ipython
...

The Python Package Index (PyPI) seems to be standard:

• To install a package: pip install MyProject
• To update a package pip install --upgrade MyProject
• To fix a version of a package pip install MyProject==1.0

You can install the package manager as follows:

curl -O http://python-distribute.org/distribute_setup.py
python distribute_setup.py
easy_install pip

References:

• http://guide.python-distribute.org/
• http://pypi.python.org/pypi/distribute

I don't see either MacPorts or Homebrew mentioned in other answers here, but since I do see them mentioned elsewhere on Stack Overflow for related questions, I'll add my own US$0.02 that many folks seem to consider MacPorts as not only a package manager for packages in general (as of today they list 16311 packages/ports, 2931 matching "python", albeit only for Macs), but also as a decent (maybe better) package manager for Python packages/modules:

Question

"...what is the method that Mac python developers use to manage their modules?"

Answers

• "MacPorts is perfect for Python on the Mac."

• "The best way is to use MacPorts."

• "I prefer MacPorts..."

• "With my MacPorts setup..."

• "I use MacPorts to install ... third-party modules tracked by MacPorts"

SciPy

"Macs (unlike Linux) don’t come with a package manager, but there are a couple of popular package managers you can install. Macports..."

I'm still debating on whether or not to use MacPorts myself, but at the moment I'm leaning in that direction.

As a Ruby and Perl developer and learning-Python guy, I haven't found easy_install or pip to be the equivalent to RubyGems or CPAN.

I tend to keep my development systems running the latest versions of modules as the developers update them, and freeze my production systems at set versions. Both RubyGems and CPAN make it easy to find modules by listing what's available, then install and later update them individually or in bulk if desired.

easy_install and pip make it easy to install a module ONCE I located it via a browser search or learned about it by some other means, but they won't tell me what is available. I can explicitly name the module to be updated, but the apps won't tell me what has been updated nor will they update everything in bulk if I want.

So, the basic functionality is there in pip and easy_install but there are features missing that I'd like to see that would make them friendlier and easier to use and on par with CPAN and RubyGems.

Poetry is what you're looking for. It takes care of dependency management, virtual environments, running.